The manufacture of fiber-reinforced foils, sheets or bands having a metal matrix is known, and is described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,499,156 and 4,733,816, for example. As described therein, silicon carbide fibers, silicon-coated silicon carbide fibers, silicon-carbide-coated boron fibers or boron-carbide-coated boron fibers are used as reinforcement materials and foils, sheets or bands of titanium-based alloys are used as the metal matrix. In such prior art, the metal matrix is hot-pressed between and onto the fibers using an apparatus of the type disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,841,942. The disadvantage of using such foils, sheets or bands as the matrix is that further processing to manufacture annular engine components can be suitably carried out only for the simplest ring geometries and cross-sections. It is impossible to use fusion or smelting metallurgy to manufacture more complex ring or shaft cross-sections, which are typical in jet engine components, because of the powerful reaction of the molten titanium with the silicon carbide fibers.
The known hot-pressing method has the disadvantage that it is relatively costly because it requires many steps to build up the fiber/foil structure. Furthermore, the highest achievable volume percentage of fibers and the resultant mechanical properties of the component are limited because it is impossible to achieve the densest packing of the fibers. The distance or spacing between the fibers cannot be held constant and contact between fibers cannot always be avoided. Fiber contact and broken fibers lead, inter alia, to fatigue cracks and shortening of the operating life of the engine components. The intended alignment of the fibers in the desired or necessary directions is likewise possible only to a limited extent.